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Voter turnout low in B.C. election

Nearly half of eligible voters in the provincial election last week did not cast ballots.

Nearly half of eligible voters in the provincial election last week did not cast ballots.

According to information from Elections B.C., 1,692,502 of the province’s 3,116,626 registered voters cast ballots in the election. This works out to 54.3 per cent turnout.

In the Penticton riding, which includes Summerland, there were a total of 22,953 votes cast out of 42,651 registered voters, for a turnout of 53.81 per cent. In the 2009 election, 55.14 per cent of registered voters cast ballots.

The percentages are based on the number of registered voters, not the number of eligible voters, since some who were eligible to vote were not on the lists.

From 1928 until 2001, at least 65 per cent of registered voters cast ballots in each provincial election. In many elections, the figure was past 70 per cent.

Estimated numbers of eligible voters are not yet available for the 2013 provincial election. That information will not be available until after the final vote count, later this month.

Prior to the 1983 provincial election, Elections B.C. does not have estimates of the number of eligible voters.

 



John Arendt

About the Author: John Arendt

John Arendt has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.
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